


Super Great MomoKai Special

by longleggedgit



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 06:34:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longleggedgit/pseuds/longleggedgit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Momoshiro and Kaidoh are competing Japanese pop idols.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://santa-smex.livejournal.com/profile)[**santa_smex**](http://santa-smex.livejournal.com/) 2007\. Thank you to my betas, [](http://mousapelli.livejournal.com/profile)[**mousapelli**](http://mousapelli.livejournal.com/), [](http://anjenue.livejournal.com/profile)[**anjenue**](http://anjenue.livejournal.com/), and [](http://cmere.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://cmere.livejournal.com/)**cmere**. ♥

The first time Momoshiro sees Kaidoh Kaoru, he and Ryoma are eating at some fancy restaurant in Tokyo with disappointingly small portions but sweet buns so good they almost make up for it.

"Hey," he says, elbowing Ryoma in the side. "Look. It's that Mamushi guy."

Ryoma doesn't even look up. "So?"

"He's scary-looking. Who's that dude he's eating with?"

"Who cares? Probably his drummer or something."

Momo scoffs loudly. "His drummer? What, doesn't he have any friends or a girlfriend or something?"

Ryoma gives him one of those looks that means he should go back to stuffing his face like usual and shut up. "We're eating dinner together, Momo-senpai."

"That's different. We're best friends. It's part of our image." Momo grins and kicks Ryoma's leg under the table, because he kind of likes it when Ryoma gives him that look.

"Che," Ryoma says. He returns his attention to his plate, but pauses long enough to add, "I don't think friends are really a part of Mamushi's image."

"Oh," Momo says, and he can't really think of anything else to say to that.

Instead, he steals one of Ryoma's sweet buns, and forgets completely about Kaidoh Kaoru when they get kicked out of the restaurant for starting a food fight. It's in all the tabloids the next day, but luckily, Ah-Un's fan base finds that kind of stunt pretty endearing.

~

The second time Momoshiro sees Kaidoh Kaoru, he only holds back from hitting him in the face because Ryuuzaki promised to personally make him suffer for the duration of his contract if he got in another fight in public.

"I said, watch where you're going," Kaidoh growls, and Momo's hands ball into fists without his thinking about it, because there's something in that growl that ignites his insides and makes him want nothing more than to shove Kaidoh against the wall.

" _You_ watch where you're going!" Momo snaps. He kicks himself for coming up with such a stupid comeback, then mentally kicks himself for kicking himself in front of Kaidoh and probably looking like a weird spazzy freak.

Kaidoh hisses and turns away, hoisting his luggage higher on his shoulder. "I thought these hotels had standards," he says under his breath.

Momo thinks he can feel every individual hair on his skin stand up. "What did you say?"

"Just let me know ahead of time when you plan on eating in the restaurant. I don't want to be there when you get thrown out again."

Momo sets his bag down, stepping forward to turn Kaidoh around bodily and grab him by the shirt collar, Ryuuzaki be damned, when a camera flashes to the right and causes the both of them to go instantly still.

"It's Ah-Un's Momoshiro and Kaidoh of Mamushi!" A woman's voice exclaims from the side. "Could you two give us a pose for Idol Observer?"

Momo can't comprehend how a reporter managed to sneak into this hotel, which is known for being a safe haven for celebrities, but he's definitely not in the mood for humoring anyone at the moment. Judging by the tension in Kaidoh's shoulders, neither is he.

"Go on," the woman pleads. "Just a quick pose? How do you know each other?"

Kaidoh turns to face her at last, and Momo wouldn't wish the glare he throws her on his worst enemy. Who is probably, as of today, Kaidoh Kaoru, but that's beside the point.

"We don't," Kaidoh snarls. He adjusts his luggage again and storms away, disappearing around the corner that leads to the elevators. Momo glares after him. Why the hell do they have to get booked in the same hotels just because they share a label? He'd complain to the president, except Hanamura is about the only person he can think of who scares him more than Ryuuzaki.

"So," the reporter says, recovering quickly, "any plans for a collaboration or touring together?"

"No!" Momo shouts, and he slips away to hunt down Ryoma before any more press can show up.

~

"We should consider a collaboration or touring together," Ryuuzaki says thoughtfully, reclining in her office chair, and Momo thinks for probably the trillionth time that they really need to find themselves a manager who isn't evil and secretly working for the newspapers.

"No!" Momo says, bristling. Ryoma just rolls his eyes.

"It's your own fault, Momo-senpai," Ryoma says.

"What? How is it my fault?"

Ryoma nods toward the magazine in Ryuuzaki's hands. The one with a photograph of Momo and Kaidoh on the cover, standing nose-to-nose in the hotel lobby from last week. Somehow, that photographer managed to get a shot where they don't even look all that upset to be practically sharing each other's breath. In fact, she must have tampered with it or something, because it kind of looks like Kaidoh is _blushing._

"What were you doing with him, anyway?" Ryoma says.

"Yes, I'm curious too, Momoshiro." Ryuuzaki's eyes narrow dangerously, and Momo swallows and tries to read on her face just how much trouble he's really in.

"Nothing! I just bumped into him - _he_ bumped into _me_ \- and we were –" Momo cuts himself off just before he lets slip the word "fighting," but judging by Ryuuzaki's expression, she knows exactly what Momo was about to say.

"You're not supposed to be making unscheduled public appearances, Momoshiro," Ryuuzaki begins, but before she can continue, her cell phone starts to ring. Momo has to fight not to sigh out loud in relief.

"Hello, Nanjiroh," she says. Momo frowns because he feels like he should know the name but he can't quite figure out why. He looks over at Ryoma when he groans.

"What?" Momo whispers.

"Looks like we'll be doing that collaboration after all," he says grumpily. At Momo's blank stare, he elaborates, "That's Mamushi's manager."

Momo feels the blood drain from his face and is just about to grab Ryuuzaki's phone out of her hand to demand an explanation when she snaps it shut.

"Good news," Ryuuzaki says, tucking the phone back in her pocket. "How do you feel about a winter tour this year?"

"Whatever," Ryoma says. Momo waits for the catch.

"You'll be touring with Mamushi," she continues, and Momo wonders just how she can continue smiling so placidly even while dooming them to a minimum of three months of living hell.

Ryoma gives an impatient "che" and Momo sputters incoherently. "With Mamushi?" he finally manages. "No way!"

"They fill the venues more than Ah-Un, Momoshiro," Ryuuzaki says. "This could be a real opportunity for Ah-Un's sales."

Momo's mouth hangs open, completely incredulous that any band with a lead singer _that_ ugly could so much as fill his mother's living room, and Ryuuzaki takes his stunned silence as an opportunity to slip her jacket off the back of her chair and stand up.

"Where are you going?" Ryoma asks.

"I'm having lunch with Nanjiroh to discuss the details," she says gruffly. "Don't forget about the photo shoot Thursday."

With that, she holds the door open for the two of them to exit and locks it behind her, disappearing down the hall just in time to drown out Momo's incredulous and belated cry of " _Lunch?_ "

"Nice going, Momo-senpai," Ryoma says with a sniff.

"Shut up," Momo snaps. "Let's go get hamburgers."

~

Photo shoots are usually a lot of fun, but that's because usually they just involve Momo and Ryoma getting dressed up by a few hyper-enthusiastic makeup artists and then posing with giant feather boas and balloons and stuffed animals and pretending to make out. Usually Momo likes the attention. _Usually_ there isn't a hissing glaring Mamushi hanging around with his creepy manager, who it turns out is Ryoma's father and he never even cared to mention as much.

"Why isn't he _our_ manager, then?" Momo asks Ryoma under his breath, although, watching Nanjiroh swat a glowering Kaidoh on the ass with a rolled-up newspaper, he privately thinks he's never been more grateful for the manager they've got.

"Because I hate him," Ryoma says, loud enough for the entire studio to hear. Nanjiroh looks over and winks.

"This was supposed to be a photo shoot promoting our new single," Momo grumbles once he's turned his back on Nanjiroh and Kaidoh. Ryuuzaki watches him dispassionately, arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Now it's going to be a photo shoot promoting your new single and your winter tour with Mamushi," Ryuuzaki says.

Nanjiroh gives a little chuckle. Ryoma sighs. Kaidoh hisses for the thousandth time since he arrived an hour ago and Momo stops complaining just long enough to give him another heated glare.

"We need Momoshiro and Kaidoh on the set, please," one of the photographers calls.

"What? Why just us two?" Momo looks at Ryoma helplessly, but Ryoma only pulls his stupid trendy knit cap further down to cover his eyes.

"You've already shown up together in just about every teeny-bopper magazine in the country," Nanjiroh says with a smirk. "Interest in Ah-Un and Mamushi has skyrocketed. We're just giving the fans what they want."

"Why would anyone want to look at _his_ ugly face in the first place?" Momo says. Kaidoh turns around slowly and takes his hands out of his pockets, and Momo just has time to think they are both going to suffer for this later before Kaidoh shoves him hard against the wall.

As soon as Kaidoh has Momo pinned he grabs a handful of the front of his shirt, not saying a word, just exhaling hotly in his face, and Momo ignores the shouts of various photographers and assistants in the background and grabs Kaidoh's shirt right back. He reluctantly admits to himself that those muscles Kaidoh is always taking great pains to show off might be for more than just appearance – his head still smarts where it connected with the brick wall, and no matter how much he twists in Kaidoh's grasp, he can't get enough leverage to push him away.

"Asshole," Momo growls, and his hand on Kaidoh's shirt starts slipping so he grabs onto Kaidoh's wrist instead. "You're just pissed because you know it's true."

"You're just pissed because you know you have no talent," Kaidoh spits back.

Momo narrows his eyes. Kaidoh begins to narrow his as well, but they go wide again pretty much right away when Momo pulls back and punches him squarely in the jaw.

"MOMOSHIRO!" Ryuuzaki's voice echoes in the now-silent studio, and Momo winces and drops his fist, eyes still fixed on Kaidoh. There's a violently red mark already springing to life on the side of his face. Kaidoh is watching him back, although surprisingly, he doesn't look overly mad. If anything, he just seems annoyed to have been interrupted.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Ryuuzaki says, her voice low and dangerous, and Momo bows his head guiltily and rubs the back of his neck.

"Um . . ." he says.

"How are we supposed to photograph Kaidoh when he's got an imprint of your fist on his face, Momoshiro?"

Momo briefly considers suggesting one of the dozen makeup artists they've got standing around, but then gives Kaidoh's considerably swollen cheek another sideways glance and thinks better of it.

"I . . . don't know," he admits.

Ryuuzaki continues as if he never spoke. "You just postponed a photo shoot that cost the company literally thousands of dollars to set up. You just postponed the announcement of your winter tour. You just penalized Ryoma, Kaidoh, and every single individual present because of your stupidity."

Momo's shoulders slump lower and lower until he's fairly certain he's going to disappear into his own humiliation.

"Um," he says again. He looks around the studio at the gathered crowd, some of whom are regarding him with obvious hostility, some with pity. Ryoma looks bored. Nanjiroh looks smug. Kaidoh still just looks annoyed.

"I'm really sorry, everyone," Momo says, bowing as low as he can manage without losing his balance. He waits until the studio begins to buzz with hushed voices and a hand descends on his shoulder before he dares return to an upright position. To his surprise, it is not Ryuuzaki's hand, but Nanjiroh's.

"Aw, old woman, don't be so hard on him," Nanjiroh says, waving his free hand dismissively. With his other he gives Momo's shoulder a less-than-gentle squeeze. "There will be other photo shoots. We can reschedule."

Ryuuzaki appears unimpressed, but she doesn't argue, just alternates her glare between the two of them.

"Until then," Nanjiroh continues, apparently oblivious to Ryuuzaki's displeasure, "we just need to get these boys used to each other. After all, if we want them singing duets, they can't very well be getting into fist fights onstage."

"Duets?" Momo and Kaidoh say at once.

"Duets," Nanjiroh repeats with a nod. "A new merging of pop and rock idols. The fans will go nuts."

"Ryuuzaki," Momo says desperately, although he doesn't know what he's expecting. Ryuuzaki closes her eyes and lifts a hand to massage her temple.

"I'm going to go work out rescheduling," she says. "When I am done, Momoshiro, you and Kaidoh are going to meet with Yukimura."

"What? Why?" Momo can think of no greater punishment than facing his choreographer and being forced to endure a typical five-hour practice session right now.

"Because," Ryuuzaki snaps, and Momo bites back further protest. "From now on, you and Kaidoh do everything together."

"Everything? What do you mean, 'everything'?" Momo notices with a twinge of annoyance that Kaidoh appears as horrified as Momo feels. What right does that jerk have to look so pissed off? Momo's the one who really has to suffer.

" _Everything_ ," Ryuuzaki says. "Choreography. Vocal training. You will eat your goddamned meals together until you can behave civilly enough to get through one photo shoot without sabotaging all our careers."

By this point, Momo doesn't even care that his mouth is hanging open stupidly. He's never hated anyone in his life as much as he hates Kaidoh Kaoru. Everyone's acting like this whole thing is all Momo's fault, but it's not like Kaidoh wasn't _begging_ to get punched. Momo looks to Ryoma for sympathy - naturally, he finds none - and then comes to a sudden realization.

"Wait a minute," Momo says. "What about Ryoma? He has to come too, right?"

"We have plans for Ryoma," Ryuuzaki says dismissively.

"Plans?" Momo grits his teeth and reminds himself that he'll be in even more trouble if he hits his manager in the face as well. "I'm in Ah-Un, not Mamushi. Ryoma and I are supposed to work together."

"You should know, Momoshiro, that the label has been considering pushing Ryoma as a solo artist for some time now."

Momo freezes, eyes fixed on Ryuuzaki in disbelief. "A solo artist," he repeats. He looks to Ryoma, waiting for him to protest, waiting for him to at the very least express some surprise. Ryoma tugs his cap lower and stares at the floor.

"Four weeks, Momo." Momo hears Ryuuzaki's voice distantly, but he can't focus on it, can't quite lift his head to meet her gaze. "You will do exactly as I tell you for four weeks, and after that we'll talk."

Momo doesn't answer. He's still waiting for Ryoma to look up and grin, to laugh and tell him this is all a bad joke. Someone behind them yells for Nanjiroh, who excuses himself and walks away. Ryuuzaki clears her throat and turns to make a phone call. Kaidoh stays quiet, which Momo privately thinks is the smartest thing he's ever done.

"Ryoma?" Momo says, hesitant.

"Work hard, Momo-senpai," Ryoma says. He gives Momo a little nod, picks up his bag, and leaves the studio.

"Bastard," Momo mutters, and when he realizes Kaidoh is still there and within earshot he pretends to be referring to him. "This is all your fault," he snarls.

"Don't blame me for your dumb boyband drama," Kaidoh says, but there's not a whole lot of venom behind the words, and Momo's glad. He doesn't have the energy to get in another fight.

"Boys," Nanjiroh says, suddenly coming up behind Momo and Kaidoh and draping his arms across both their shoulders. "Let's go have a little chat with Yukimura, shall we?"

Momo nods glumly. Kaidoh, to his credit, looks appropriately anxious. The guy has no idea what he's in for.

~

"I don't dance," Kaidoh growls for the second time. Momo groans and buries his head under his arms. He knew from the start that Kaidoh was an egotistical jerk, but he had no idea he was this _stupid._

"Oh?" Yukimura says sweetly. "That's interesting, Kaidoh-kun, because I've been expressly ordered to make certain that you do." Momo doesn't have to watch them to know Yukimura has the same deadly smile fixed on his face he was wearing when Momo and Kaidoh walked into the dance studio ten minutes ago. He shifts uncomfortably from his seat on the floor.

"Dancing is for pop idols," Kaidoh says with a glare in Momo's direction. Momo doesn't bother glaring back. He almost feels sorry for Kaidoh, digging himself in this deep with Yukimura on their first day. Almost.

"No, Kaidoh-kun." Yukimura raises himself up from his cross-legged position on the floor, casually adjusting the sweater he has knotted around his shoulders. His only other articles of clothing are a black leotard and green leg warmers. Momo's more than used to this, but he's noticed Kaidoh glancing down at the more prominent aspects of Yukimura's anatomy from time to time in mild disgust. Momo fights back a sigh. This is really not going to be pretty.

"No, Kaidoh," Yukimura says again, "dancing is not for pop idols. Dancing is for artists. Dancing is for athletes and musicians." Yukimura bends back and stretches languidly, and Kaidoh actually turns his head away to hide his flush at Yukimura's shamelessness. "Dancing," Yukimura continues without pause, "is for people who will find themselves suddenly unemployed if they don't do exactly as their choreographers tell them."

Kaidoh looks back at him sharply, but before he can manage a retort Yukimura places a hand on the back of his neck and tightens his grip until the knuckles turn white.

"Walk with me, Kaidoh-kun," Yukimura says, and Kaidoh has no choice but to comply as Yukimura steers him forward, leading him the short distance to the left corner of the room. Yukimura leans over and begins to speak in hushed tones in Kaidoh's ear. Even from this far away, the sound makes Momo shiver. After a few seconds, Yukimura drops his hand from Kaidoh's neck and gives his back a swift pat, then strolls to the center of the room and favors Momo with a wink. Momo can only smile weakly in response, eyes primarily focused on Kaidoh, who remains in the corner a few moments longer before he, too, returns to the center of the room. His face is pale and he now looks at Yukimura with some kind of reverential horror.

Yukimura beams. "Ready to try again?" he asks. Kaidoh swallows and nods.

"Good." Yukimura points to one of the plastic chairs against the wall. "Sit there and watch Momoshiro. Today you will observe. I don't think you're quite ready to dance yet."

Kaidoh gets tight-lipped and Momo can actually see the veins stand out in his neck, but he nods again and obediently turns to sit down.

"Takeshi," Yukimura purrs, and Momo can see his own face go pale in the large wall mirror at the sound of his given name.

"Yes?" he says.

"You haven't been following your diet, have you?"

Momo lets out a sort of strangled choking sound as Yukimura pulls him in by the belt and then grabs a handful of his abdomen, shaking it pointedly.

"If you don't lose five pounds of fat within the month, I'm putting you on a diet of nothing but tomato juice and nori," he says. Then, in seamless transition, "Why don't you start out with downward-facing dog, hmm?"

Momo scrambles to get in position, just as eager to appease Yukimura's subtle wrath as he is to hide the color in his cheeks. At the very least, he thinks, Yukimura never plays favorites. He and Kaidoh are in this humiliation together.

~

Five hours later, Momoshiro wearily picks up his buzzing cell phone just after exiting the dance studio and is informed by Ryuuzaki that he and Kaidoh are off for the rest of the day. Seeing as it's already after six, Momo can't muster up a whole lot of gratitude.

"Be at the studio at nine-thirty sharp tomorrow morning for your vocal lessons," Ryuuzaki reminds him. "And make sure Kaidoh knows where to go."

"Yeah, yeah," Momo groans, and he hangs up.

To his left, Kaidoh seems to be fielding a similar phone call, probably from Nanjiroh, and Momo waits, shifting his feet impatiently, as Kaidoh gives terse, one-word replies to the caller's inquiries.

"We have voice lessons tomorrow at nine-thirty," Momo says the second Kaidoh closes his phone. "Same building, second floor, room 208. Don't be late. Mizuki's insane, too."

"As insane as Yukimura?" Kaidoh asks, and Momo would laugh at the genuine fear in his voice if he weren't so damn exhausted.

"No," Momo says, "not that insane. Insane in a different way."

Kaidoh grunts and pauses to pull a light jacket out of his messenger bag, slipping it on with unnecessary care. Momo watches his shoulders disappear under the dark fabric, then snaps back to attention when Kaidoh looks at him curiously.

"How old is Yukimura?" Kaidoh says.

Momo shrugs, hastily clearing his throat. "Somewhere around our age. I think Hanamura is sort of fond of hiring young prodigies or something." Momo frowns, recalling clearly the one time he met the Masterpiece Records president in person, who, while perhaps not as evil as Yukimura, seemed potentially even crazier. What made him decide to sign on with a label staffed entirely by lunatics, anyway?

Kaidoh snorts and reaches into his bag again, pulling out a red bandana and tying it snugly around his head. "See you tomorrow, then," he says.

"What? Wait, aren't you hungry?" The words are out of Momo's mouth before his eyes can wander to the bruise on Kaidoh's face, which is no longer an angry red but a more subdued purple. It looks like it hurts.

_Oh, right,_ he thinks.

"Hungry?" Kaidoh repeats. As if he can tell what Momo is thinking, he lifts a hand to absently touch the bruise on his jaw.

"We're supposed to do everything together," Momo says quickly. "And we skipped lunch."

Kaidoh hisses. "Fine," he says.

Momo grins despite himself. "Follow me!" he says, and he leads the way out the back door. It's not like he wants to spend more time with Kaidoh, he reasons. He just happens to know exactly what kind of restaurant would _really_ be bad for Mamushi's image.

~

Momo texts Ryoma to invite him along while they're walking and almost runs into the glass doors of the restaurant. Kaidoh laughs derisively, but Momo doesn't really care. Anyway, Kaidoh shuts up the minute he realizes where they are.

"You can't be serious," he says, staring up at the golden arches above the door.

"What? I want hamburgers."

"I thought you were on a diet."

Momo shrugs and walks inside, holding the door for Kaidoh, who follows reluctantly. "It's not like Yukimura's got spies tailing me," he says.

"I wouldn't be surprised."

They get spotted by a group of teenage girls almost immediately upon sitting down in a booth – Kaidoh is the one they notice first, to Momo's chagrin, but once they see Momo they definitely start to squeal a lot louder – and it takes a full fifteen minutes to finish writing out autographs and thanking them politely for listening to their music before the girls leave them alone so they can give their orders and collect their food.

"You're disgusting," Kaidoh says when Momo sits down with his tray, which is piled with ten burgers, a jumbo drink and three orders of fries.

"What?" Momo says. "I'm hungry."

"I don't know how you expect to fit your fat ass into those tiny pants you always wear when you eat like that," Kaidoh says.

"Shut up!" Momo glares and Kaidoh rolls his eyes before biting into his dinner, which consists of one chicken sandwich, a salad and a cup of water. How boring.

Momo is just wondering if the time allotment has passed to retort that he doesn't know how Kaidoh fits his fat head inside those bandanas he always wears when his cell phone vibrates and he fishes it out of his pocket. It's a message from Ryoma, consisting of nothing more than,

_I'm working late tonight. Sorry._

Momo furrows his brow and slips the phone back in his pocket, moving in for his fourth burger.

"Was that Echizen?" Kaidoh asks.

"What's it to you?" Momo says.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes again. "It's not like I care," he says.

"Good." Momo devours his burger as sullenly as possible. Kaidoh, who is already finished with his meal, watches him in obvious revulsion.

Another teenage girl suddenly appears at the side of their table, a loner who wasn't part of the group that accosted them before, and Momo is actually grateful for her interruption because he's getting so sick of Kaidoh looking at him like that he's almost ready to punch him in the other side of the face.

"Um, I'm sorry to bother you. . . ." the girl begins nervously.

No worries, no worries!" Momo says with a grin. "What do you want, an autograph?"

"If it's no trouble, actually . . . could I please get a picture of you and Kaidoh together?" The girl holds up her cell phone camera imploringly, and Momo's eyes go wide as he swivels his head to lift an eyebrow at Kaidoh.

"Okay," Kaidoh says, and Momo wonders if Yukimura worked him harder than he realized and he's actually having a stroke.

Kaidoh doesn't allow him a lot of time to worry about it. He gets up from his booth and switches over to Momo's, sliding in next to him while retaining the same bored expression. The girl fumbles with her phone and finally snaps a picture, then two and three, and gives one last thank you and bow before Momo even has time to wipe the absolutely dumbfounded expression off his face and smile.

"Wh – why did you -" Momo begins, watching the girl walk – no, actually skip – away.

"What? It's just another fan photo." Kaidoh eases back into his booth and reclines casually, but Momo can't help but notice he looks a little red again.

"It's weird," Momo says. "You wouldn't let that reporter take a picture of us in the hotel."

The swelling on Kaidoh's cheek, Momo thinks, has gone down, but the bruise is still vibrant and impossible to ignore. For some reason he feels strange about that girl having a picture of it, like it's something no one else should get to know about.

"Whatever. Fans are different." Kaidoh stands up and Momo has to fight the urge to stand up too, reminding himself that he doesn't have to go where Kaidoh goes, plus Kaidoh is stupid and he hates him.

"Do you have any idea when our photo shoot will be rescheduled for?" Kaidoh asks.

Momo raises an eyebrow. "Probably not for a couple weeks," he says. "They're really busy."

"Good." Kaidoh shoulders his bag and turns to leave.

"Why?" Momo says quickly.

"Tomorrow I have to get you back for this," Kaidoh says, tapping the side of his face.

Momo just stares. He can't be serious. "Asshole," he says, quiet enough that no one else in the restaurant can hear.

"Moron." Kaidoh turns without so much as a word of goodbye and walks out the glass doors, leaving Momo to watch after him like every other stupid obsessive fangirl in the restaurant.

~

The next morning Momo is grumpier than he can remember being in a long time, partially because Ryoma never answered any of his calls so he had to spend the night at home listening to his parents lecture him about blowing off his tutor again, and partially because Kaidoh's threat is actually making him anxious and jumpy. He's half-expecting Kaidoh to leap out at him from around some corner and take him by surprise, and while he's obviously not _scared_ , he doesn't much like the prospect of losing a fight just because he wasn't given fair warning, either. Kaidoh has no sense of honor at all.

"You're late, Momoshiro!"

"Sorry." Momo bows in weak apology as he slips in the door to Mizuki's studio, dropping his bag in the corner and glaring at Kaidoh, who looks as if he's already been there for some time. His jaw, at least, is an unpleasant shade of blue-green today, very unflattering and probably very sore. Of course, this just reminds Momo of Kaidoh's threat, which twists his stomach into knots all over again.

"You think I've got all the time in the world to waste on you and your little towel boy?" Mizuki says haughtily. Momo makes no attempt to hide his grin at the look on Kaidoh's face. He has never loved Mizuki so much. In fact, he has never loved Mizuki, period, until this moment.

"I have Echizen and Tezuka and Fuji scheduled immediately after you two," Mizuki continues, and Momo's grin vanishes instantly.

"What? Why are they scheduled together?" Momo says.

Mizuki sighs with an air of great suffering. "I'm sure I don't know or care," he says. "I'm only here to make sure you boys can carry a tune. Now will you come up to the piano, or shall I have him fetch you?" Mizuki gestures vaguely in Kaidoh's direction, who clenches his jaw and narrows his eyes at Momo as if he was the one who put Mizuki up to this. Momo smirks as he moves toward the piano, rather wishing he had.

At first the lesson actually starts to cheer Momo up, mainly because every time Kaidoh sings Mizuki makes a face like he smelled something terrible and informs him that cigarettes are bad for the voice.

"I don't smoke," Kaidoh says impatiently.

"Alcohol, then," Mizuki amends.

"I don't drink, either," Kaidoh says, even more impatiently.

Mizuki gives a short laugh and flips his hair away from his eyes. "Just what kind of rock star are you?"

"I'm sixteen!"

"Nfu. I bet you'll claim you don't sleep with your groupies, either." Mizuki looks at Kaidoh's reddening face rather sadly before turning his eyes on Momo, who has been unsuccessfully stifling his laughter for some time now.

"Fried food will also destroy your voice, Momoshiro," Mizkui says.

"I've been sticking to my diet!" Momo lies.

"Hardly." Mizuki sniffs. "You're as big as a house. I'm disgusted just to look at you."

Kaidoh laughs and Momo feels that growing cheer rapidly drain away. "At least I can sing," Momo growls, although privately he thinks Kaidoh's voice really isn't that bad. It's gravelly, sure, but it kind of makes his skin get all goosebumpy in a way only Ryoma has ever accomplished before. Of course, he'd rather swap wardrobes with Mizuki for a week than admit as much.

"You want me to pay you back for yesterday right now?" Kaidoh asks, taking a step forward.

"Maybe I do." Momo steps forward as well, inexplicably relieved, but Mizuki cuts in before they can continue.

"Please, not in my studio," he moans. "I'm done with the two of you for today. Get out of my sight."

Kaidoh and Momo waste no time in obeying him. They're being released a full half hour earlier than anticipated, which, Momo calculates, gives them enough time to finish fighting and maybe even grab some lunch before they have to face Yukimura.

"Great, now you made him pissed," Momo says once they're in the hallway, pretending to be anything other than immensely overjoyed.

" _I_ made him pissed?"

Momo opens his mouth to repeat himself but then falls silent, met suddenly with the sight of Ryoma walking toward them, Tezuka and Fuji in his wake.

"Hello," Fuji says first, and Momo intends to reply but Fuji continues, "It's been a while, Kaidoh-kun."

"Fuji-senpai," Kaidoh says with a short nod of the head.

"Did you have a good time last night?" Momo decides to ignore the fact that Kaidoh now appears intently interested in the floor and looks at Ryoma.

Ryoma shrugs. "It was okay," he says. He pulls down his cap. Tezuka frowns and Fuji beams. The door to Mizuki's office opens with a slam.

"Are you three ready or not?" Mizuki snaps, pointedly ignoring Momo and Kaidoh.

"See you later, Kaidoh. Momoshiro," Fuji says, waving.

"Bye." Momo waits for them to file into Mizuki's studio before he stuffs his hands in his pockets and storms away. The sound of footsteps tells him Kaidoh is following close behind, and once they're practically on the opposite end of the building Momo comes to a halt and turns around.

"How do you know Fuji?" he demands, anxious to keep the conversation away from Ryoma.

Kaidoh freezes and crosses his arms, clearly uncomfortable.

"He was my senpai when I was a Junior," he says gruffly.

Momo tries not to look as shocked as he actually is. "Wait. You were a Junior? Like, with Masterpiece?"

"Not for very long," Kaidoh says, in a way that suggests this conversation is over. He frowns at Momo's feet and Momo shifts awkwardly.

"Are you going to hit me now or what?"

Kaidoh looks up. "I guess so," he says slowly.

"Okay." Momo shifts again. "Hurry up, then."

Kaidoh takes a step forward and raises his fist, and Momo closes his eyes. He was originally planning on fighting back, maybe giving Kaidoh a black eye to go along with his cheek, but now he just kind of wants to let it happen and be done. After a few seconds of nothing, however, Momo opens one eye to find that Kaidoh has lowered his arm.

"What's the problem?"

Kaidoh hisses and crosses his arms again. "You're such an idiot," he says. "I'll get you back some other time."

"Fine," Momo says, and when Kaidoh mutters something about a phone call and disappears back the way they came, Momo struggles to ignore the fact that it leaves him strangely disappointed.

~

That night when Momo goes home, he's tired enough that for once he plans on just doing the work his tutor assigned him and going right to sleep. But then he settles down on the sofa and turns on the TV – he deserves a _little_ break after such a long day, after all – and Ryoma's face is smiling at him from the screen, causing him to instantly forget all thoughts of homework.

"Oh Takeshi, you didn't tell us you were going to be on TV tonight!" his mother says, coming up behind him and setting her hands on the back of the sofa.

"I'm not," Momo says, trying to hear over the unpleasant buzzing in his ears.

"It's strange for you to be appearing without Momoshiro, isn't it, Echizen?" the interviewer says from the TV, voicing Momo's thoughts exactly.

Ryoma smiles that smile he only uses for interviews and photo shoots and leans back in his easy chair. "Momoshiro is currently working on his own special project," Ryoma says. "I'm not allowed to reveal any details, but it's going to be very exciting."

A few of the audience members squeal shrilly. Momo's mother rests a hand on the top of his head and says "Takeshi. . . ."

"That is exciting news," the interviewer agrees. "But what about you? Are you telling us this is the end of Ah-Un?"

"Shh." Momo leans forward, watching a no longer smiling Ryoma uncross and re-cross his legs, raking a hand through his impeccably styled hair.

"It's not the end of anything," Ryoma says, and after a beat he smiles again. "We're just taking a break, working on different things right now."

"And what is it that you'll be focusing on, Echizen?"

More squeals erupt from the crowd. Momo wishes he could make them disappear.

"Well, I've just today been given permission to share the news of my new solo album."

The squeals turn into full-fledged shrieking now, and the interviewer has to wait, laughing, for the audience to quiet down before he can be heard again.

"We're so glad you chose to share it with us here," he says, eliciting a few more claps and cheers. "Will you be touring to promote the album as well?"

"Yes," Ryoma says, "I'll be on tour beginning –"

Momo holds up the remote and clicks the TV off, staring at the now-blank screen unblinkingly.

"I didn't know Echizen was going solo," Momo's mother says, her voice cautious.

"Neither did I," Momo replies.

He stands and heads upstairs, ignoring his mother when she calls after him. Once he's in his room with the door closed, he briefly considers taking out his phone and calling Ryoma, but then thinks better of it and turns it to silent instead. The program, Momo knows, doesn't air live. Ryoma's known about this for days.

~

Momo doesn't show up at the studio the next morning, and remarkably his parents don't say a word about it. His mom makes him breakfast and after he eats it he goes back to bed, sleeping in until late afternoon, at which point he wakes up bleary-headed and in desperate need of a piss. When he stumbles back from the bathroom to his bedroom he picks up his cell phone, which has four missed calls – three from Ryuuzaki, one from a number he doesn't recognize, and none from Ryoma. Momo goes to his voicemail and deletes the first two messages, both from Ryuuzaki, without listening. The third causes his finger to freeze on the erase button.

"This is Kaidoh," the voice says. It sounds even more gruff and unpleasant than usual, but Momo is nonetheless hypnotized. There is an unnaturally long silence after Kaidoh says his name, and then he continues, "Look, if you want to ruin your own career, that's fine, but don't drag mine down with it." Momo frowns, and there is another pause, this one so long that he almost thinks the message is over and his phone just for some reason neglected to tell him. "Come into the studio," Kaidoh finally says. "Please."

The message ends and the phone's warm female voice asks him if he would like to save, delete, or replay. Momo hits "save" and then goes to save the number as well, checking the call time as he does so. Kaidoh called at 12:38. It's currently 3:21.

"You're all fucking bastards," Momo mutters, and he heads toward the closet to find a pair of pants.

~

By the time he reaches the studio, Momo has long since missed their voice lesson and more than half of their session with Yukimura, and, glancing at his watch, he decides it can't hurt to try and miss a little more and heads first to Ryuuzaki's office. Momo can't decide if meeting with her now is more or less dangerous than meeting with Yukimura, but at any rate, he knows he eventually needs to face them both.

"Sit down," Ryuuzaki says when Momo appears in her doorway, and Momo does so wordlessly, somewhat surprised she hasn't started yelling yet.

"You have every right to be angry," she says next. Momo frowns and looks at his feet and _he knows that_ , but he wasn't expecting Ryuuzaki to _agree_ with him.

"Is he touring with Fuji and Tezuka, then?" Momo says, mumbling a little to hide the tremor in his voice.

Ryuuzaki considers him for a moment before answering. "Yes," she says. "They're helping to promote him."

Momo nods and picks at the edge of his sleeve. His eyes keep stinging, which is stupid because he easily had more than sixteen hours of sleep between last night and today.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner," Ryuuzaki says. "The label really was only considering the possibility until very recently, and then I was expecting Ryoma to tell you himself."

Momo nods again and takes a deep breath and bends over to pretend to tie his shoe so he can really wipe his nose. "Okay," he says, grimacing when his voice breaks. "So where does that leave me?"

"You aren't being dropped, Momoshiro. You're still very popular and a great asset to the label. This isn't even a definitive end to Ah-Un; it's more of a test period." Ryuuzaki pauses and Momo waits, because he can always tell when she's about to say something he doesn't want to hear. "We'd really like for you to consider taking a partnership with Kaidoh more seriously," she says.

Momo's insides churn and he doesn't even try to control his voice this time. "What, like join Mamushi?"

Ryuuzaki shrugs. "Maybe. Maybe start a new group. There are several possibilities."

"I hate him," Momo says.

"The feeling is mutual, I'm sure," Ryuuzaki says with a sigh. "But that doesn't negate the fact that you two have good chemistry. There's a lot of potential there."

Momo crosses his arms and bites his cheek and thinks about that time in the hotel, how maybe being booked in the same place as Kaidoh wasn't an accident after all. He suddenly hates Hanamura and this entire stupid company. He hates that they decide everything for him and he just has to sit in the dark. He hates that they have the power to take away his best friend and stick him with a viper instead.

Ryuuzaki drops a magazine on top of her desk without warning and pushes it toward Momo, who picks it up slowly but then draws it close to his face once he catches a glimpse of the center photo. It's him and Kaidoh, somewhat grainy and seated side-by-side in a booth, with a caption underneath in bold blue letters. "MOMOSHIRO'S SPECIAL PROJECT?" the caption reads, followed by the page number for the full story.

Momo looks back at Ryuuzaki, wide-eyed, and she raises an eyebrow and smiles.

"Sometimes it's best to give the fans what they want, Momoshiro."

"Okay," he says, exhausted, and he tosses the magazine back on the desk and stands up, giving her a weak smile in return. "But my name gets listed first."

~

Yukimura makes him pay for missing more than half of their session, but it's no worse than exactly what Momo was expecting, so when he and Kaidoh are finally released, sweaty and bone-tired, at six-thirty, Momo slips on his shoes and packs up his bag without a moan of complaint. If anyone has a right to be angry, he grudgingly reasons, it's Kaidoh, who got held late even after showing up on time. Momo would feel guilty about it if Kaidoh weren't such a jerk.

Kaidoh doesn't say anything or even look at him until they're both outside the studio, free from Yukimura's unwavering gaze.

"Um," Momo says, just before Kaidoh punches him, hard.

"Ow! Fucker!" Momo grabs his shoulder and frowns at Kaidoh. It hurts, enough that he's certain it will leave a mark, but it's not anywhere near his face. He's a little surprised Kaidoh didn't try to knock some of his teeth out.

"I still owe you one more," Kaidoh says.

"Huh? What for?" Momo says indignantly.

"For being a dumbass."

Momo can't really argue with this, so he just pouts and rubs his arm a little more than is strictly necessary.

"Did you see our picture in the magazines?" Momo asks when they're almost to the back door and he's decided to talk to Kaidoh again.

Kaidoh grunts noncommittally, which Momo takes as an affirmative.

"Still think the fans are that different from the press?" Momo says, smirking.

Kaidoh hisses and reaches back to tighten his bandana, glaring at nothing in particular. "They probably offered her enough money to buy a car," he says. "I would have sold it, too."

"Whatever." Momo feels like he's scored some small victory even despite the likely truth behind Kaidoh's words, and is still caught up in his own self-satisfaction when he suddenly realizes they're outside and Kaidoh is walking in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Momo asks, even though he definitely doesn't _care._

Kaidoh stops in his tracks and looks over his shoulder. "Band practice," he says.

Momo briefly wonders why he's never even considered the fact that he has yet to meet a single member of Mamushi besides Kaidoh himself. "Band practice?" he repeats, jogging to catch up with Kaidoh. "You don't practice in the studio?"

"No." Kaidoh gives Momo a look clearly meant to convey "Why the hell are you still walking next to me," but he doesn't say it so Momo doesn't stop.

"Where do you practice, then?"

"At my house." Kaidoh mutters a little when he answers, and Momo's pretty sure when he lowers his head to inspect his watch he's actually trying to hide the flush in his cheeks.

"How come?"

Momo decides, at least for the time being, he won't tease Kaidoh about the blushing, mainly because he kind of wants to get invited along. After all, he's going to have to get used to these people at some point. Kaidoh's cheeks are so red now Momo's beginning to wonder if there isn't something wrong with him, but Kaidoh definitely doesn't appreciate it when Momo lifts a hand to try and feel his forehead.

"Knock it off," Kaidoh growls. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and clears his throat and stares at the sidewalk. "I never get to see my family if we don't practice at home," he finally explains, and then he purses his lips and pulls out his phone and Momo gets the hint to not ask any more questions.

"I'm going to be late," Kaidoh says into his phone, without any word of greeting. "The idiot got us held back at the studio."

"Hey!" Momo shouts, but Kaidoh sticks a finger in his ear and continues to listen to his phone.

"Just wait downstairs," Kaidoh says after a few seconds. "And don't talk to my brother!"

He hangs up and shoves the phone into his back pocket and looks at Momo for the first time since they left.

"Are you coming over?" he asks.

"Oh." Momo acts as if the thought hadn't even occurred to him, despite the fact that he's now standing next to Kaidoh at a bus station he's never even been to before. "Yeah, I guess," he says. "I'm supposed to meet with my tutor, but he won't really care if I don't show up."

Kaidoh snorts. "You have no respect for anyone."

"I just don't have respect for algebra," he says defensively, and then shuts up when the bus arrives and stays quiet the whole ride there. It's a half hour ride, too, so by the time they get to Kaidoh's front door he's practically dying for the company of someone who can carry a conversation. He hopes Kaidoh's band mates aren't all as boring as he is.

"I'm home," Kaidoh says when they walk inside and remove their shoes.

Momo looks up at the sound of someone approaching, and his eyes go wide as an exact miniature replica of Kaidoh runs down the stairs to greet them.

"Kaoru's home!" the mini-Kaidoh yells. He then looks up at Momo. "Who's he?"

"Don't be rude, Hazue," Kaidoh says stiffly. Momo takes one look at the pained expression on Kaidoh's face and grins.

"Yo! I'm Momoshiro," he says.

"Oh!" Recognition dawns on Hazue's face, and then he bows and Momo almost laughs out loud. "I'm Kaidoh Hazue. Nice to meet you." Hazue straightens up again and then returns all his attention to Kaidoh. "Guess what?" he says. "Akutsu taught me how to play a C chord!"

"Don't talk to Akutsu!" Kaidoh says sharply, and he grabs a pair of guest slippers for Momo, slamming them down in front of his feet and slipping into a pair himself. "We're going downstairs," he says. "Tell Mom and Dad I'll have dinner when we're done, okay?"

"Okay," Hazue says, disappointed, and he disappears into what looks like a big kitchen.

"Come on," Kaidoh mutters, and Momo keeps grinning as he follows him downstairs.

"Who's Akutsu?" he says, at the same time a voice snarls from across the room, "You didn't tell us you were bringing that fag with you."

"Shut the hell up," Kaidoh says, although he doesn't put much energy behind it.

Momo stares dumbly. The most terrifying individual he has ever seen in his life is staring back at him, with eyes so buggy they appear as if they might fall out at any moment and hair bleached past the point of no return into a sickly shade of white. He chews on a bent cigarette and finally turns up one side of his mouth in an almost-smile when Momo tries to subtly hide behind Kaidoh.

"You can't smoke in here!" Kaidoh says, with a lot more enthusiasm than he mustered up in defense of Momo.

"It's not lit," the scary guy says dismissively, but to Momo's surprise, he plucks the cigarette from his lips and stuffs it back into a carton.

"This is Akutsu," Kaidoh says, sounding extremely tired. He then points to the left corner of the room, which has a drum set Momo hadn't noticed before with a trendy-looking kid seated behind it. "That's Kamio, and that –" he points at the other corner, which is empty save for a rack of instruments and a tall guy with weird bandages on his arms – "is Shiraishi."

Momo raises his hand in a half-hearted wave. No one appears too excited to see him, with the possible exception of Shiraishi, who at the very least is intrigued enough to look up from the white electric guitar he's plucking at.

"This is Momoshiro," Kaidoh adds as an afterthought.

"Yo," Shiraishi says. Kamio nods.

Akutsu just rolls his eyes. "So are we going to practice, or are we going to have a fucking tea party?"

"Just get your guitar and be quiet," Kaidoh says. He then turns to Momo, eyeing him thoughtfully. "You can sit there and watch," he says, pointing to a sofa.

"You mean he can't even play a fucking instrument?" Akutsu says with a laugh. Momo almost opens his mouth to insist that in fact he can, but then decides the recorder probably doesn't count, especially when he hasn't played it in four years.

"Leave him alone, Akutsu," Shiraishi says, and Momo immediately decides Shiraishi is his favorite, way nicer than Akutsu and Kaidoh, and when he starts his _own_ label and launches his new career maybe he'll let him come, too.

"Can we _play_ already?" Kamio picks up his drumsticks and glares at each of them in turn, and Kaidoh moves next to Shirashi and starts to tune one of the guitars. Momo slinks over to the sofa and settles himself into it, ignoring the rumbling of his stomach as best he can. Maybe, he thinks, if their music sucks too bad to listen to, he can sneak upstairs and convince Kaidoh's brother to get him something to eat.

The problem is, Mamushi _doesn't_ suck. In fact, Mamushi is really, really good. Momo's heard them a couple times on the radio, sure, but never has he really stopped to listen. Kamio plays drums faster than anyone Momo has ever seen in his life, Shiraishi makes his guitar look like an extension of his body, and even Akutsu, Momo has to privately admit, plays well enough that Momo catches himself getting lost watching his fingers more than once. As for Kaidoh, Momo had no idea he could play guitar at all, much less really, really well, and that gravelly voice that made him feel shivery in Mizuki's studio now, backed up by the entire band, makes him sort of lightheaded. Their music is way different than what he and Ryoma have always done. It makes him want to write a new song. It makes him want to maybe give this stupid idea of throwing him and Kaidoh together a chance.

"I have to go," Kamio announces, standing up from his stool and stretching his arms. Kaidoh nods and everyone begins to pack away their instruments. Momo blinks, startled to glance at his watch and realize he's been listening for an hour. He even forgot to be hungry for a while, although that came back to him in a hurry.

"See you tomorrow," Kaidoh says. Momo shakes himself out of his daze and watches Shiraishi and Kamio disappear up the stairs first, listening to them give their polite goodbyes to Kaidoh's family before the door slams. Akutsu, however, even after stowing his guitar into a carrying case, doesn't move. He reclines against the wall, watching Kaidoh and Momo alternately with a rather predatory smirk.

"What do you want?" Kaidoh says when he realizes Akutsu has no plans to leave.

"You mean I'm not invited to your sleepover?"

"Shut up. He's leaving too," Kaidoh says, although he doesn't seem to much appreciate it when Momo backs him up with a hearty "Yeah!"

Akutsu laughs. "Right," he says. "Then you won't mind if I accept your brother's invitation to stay the night."

"Get out!" Kaidoh shouts, grabbing a pillow from the couch and throwing it at Akutsu.

Akutsu laughs again and finally starts up the stairs, guitar case slung over one shoulder. He makes certain to shout an unnecessarily loud goodbye to Hazue before he leaves, and Momo can't blame Kaidoh for the low hiss he makes before turning off the amps and stepping over the mess of cords toward the staircase.

"You can't spend the night," Kaidoh says without looking at him.

"Like I'd want to!"

Momo follows Kaidoh upstairs, prepared to call his parents and ask permission to get a cab home – he doesn't trust himself to remember which bus would take him back to the right train station, and besides it's already pretty late – but before he can even get his shoes on Kaidoh's mother emerges from the kitchen.

"Kaoru? Did you send all your friends home without eating again?"

"They had to go," Kaidoh mutters, but his mother ignores him in favor of stepping forward to get a better look at Momo.

"Kaoru! You didn't tell us Momoshiro was coming over tonight!" she gasps. Momo raises an eyebrow at being recognized by sight in the Kaidoh household, and notices that Kaidoh practically sinks into own shoulders.

"He's busy, Mom –" Kaidoh begins.

"We were so excited to hear you're going to be singing with Kaoru!" she says, smiling fondly and completely ignoring her son. "You have to stay for dinner!"

"Okay!" Momo agrees, partially because he _is_ starving and partially because it's just too tempting to embrace another hour of making Kaidoh look like that.

"Kaoru, go set the table," Kaidoh's mother says, before Kaidoh can protest with anything else.

"I'm going to kill you," Kaidoh says the minute she returns to the kitchen.

"Smells good!" Momo shouts, and he hurries after her.

~

As it turns out, Momo _does_ spend the night, although his parents inform him over the phone that he is definitely grounded for blowing off his tutor once again and not calling until eleven to let them know where he is. Momo doesn't really care, because Kaidoh's mom is a _way_ better cook than his mom is, and besides, they hardly ever mean it when they say he's grounded. Sleeping in Kaidoh's basement isn't a turn of events he would have highly appreciated had it been proposed to him earlier in the day, but at the moment it doesn't sound half bad.

Momo looks up from the bed he's been setting up on the sofa, the same place he sat to watch Mamushi practice, when Kaidoh appears next to him, looking like he just ate something disgusting.

"You're supposed to sleep in my room," he says through tightly gritted teeth.

"Huh? Why?"

"It's too cold downstairs," Kaidoh snaps. "Hurry the hell up. We have to get up early tomorrow."

Momo shrugs and follows Kaidoh up the two flights of stairs, returning his mother's bidding of good night before they reach the door to Kaidoh's room.

"It's so _clean_ ," Momo says, gaping as they enter.

"Don't touch anything," Kaidoh says. There's a small futon in one corner, across from a weight training set and beside a rack with two guitars. Kaidoh takes a pillow off his bed and tosses it onto the futon – Momo's bed for the night, obviously – and then, apparently as an afterthought, strips off the top blanket and rolls it up in a ball, tossing it at Momo's chest.

"Thanks," Momo says sarcastically.

"Whatever," Kaidoh says. "There's a bathroom across the hall."

"Okay." Momo figures this is his cue and leaves to use the toilet and, no other option being available, brush his teeth with his finger. He'll have to show up to the studio in the same clothes tomorrow, but it's not like it'll be the first time.

"Ahh, I'm coming over every night, your mom's such a good cook," Momo says with a laugh, stretching as he reenters Kaidoh's room. And then he freezes, arms still extended in midair, because Kaidoh is wearing nothing but a tank top and boxer shorts. Which is normal nighttime clothing, Momo reminds himself, but there's something _wrong_ with how much skin Kaidoh is showing right now, the way the line of his biceps leads Momo's eye to the muscles of his back, then down to the little flash of skin visible above his shorts, and finally down to his legs, which are . . . well, they are definitely way more shapely than any girl's legs Momo has ever seen.

"You are not," Kaidoh says. Then, looking suddenly unnerved, "What?"

"Um." Momo drops his arms quickly and shuffles to the futon, grabbing one of the guitars next to it and pulling it into his lap.

"What are you _doing?_ " Kaidoh says.

"I want to learn!" Momo says, because he can't think of any other excuse for suddenly covering up his crotch with a musical instrument.

"Idiot," Kaidoh grunts, but he seems satisfied with the answer. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

Momo sits waiting in mounting panic as Kaidoh's absence gets longer and longer and his hard-on shows no sign of disappearing. In fact, the more he thinks of Kaidoh in the bathroom doing whatever it is that's taking him so long to do, the harder he gets, and what the hell, just when did Kaidoh go from being scary-looking to smoking hot? By the time Kaidoh returns, Momo is clutching the guitar to him like a pillow.

"You're going to break a string!" Kaidoh shuts his bedroom door and moves toward the futon, glaring down at Momo sternly.

"Just teach me something," Momo says, and he hopes he doesn't sound quite as desperate as he feels.

"You want to learn bass guitar?" Kaidoh asks, looking skeptical. Momo curses silently, because he definitely doesn't want to learn any instrument that Akutsu jerk plays, but it's not like now that he's holding it he can just _switch._

"Yes," he says.

"We can't plug it in, Hazue's asleep," Kaidoh says, but to Momo's considerable surprise he drops to a squat in front of him and takes hold of the guitar, readjusting it in Momo's lap.

"Hold it like this," Kaidoh says. Momo squirms a little but obeys, even despite the fact that when he's holding it right it makes more of his crotch visible. Kaidoh seems sufficiently distracted by realigning Momo's fingers on the strings, which is a good thing, although if he keeps touching Momo's hands like that he'll have to be holding the damn thing all night long.

"Um. What now." Momo swallows and tries to keep his eyes fixed on his hands on the strings, not on Kaidoh, whose face is close enough that Momo can smell his toothpaste.

"Now, pluck." Kaidoh demonstrates with his own hand, plucking the four steel strings in turn. It sounds _good_ , to Momo's surprise, and he briefly forgets the direness of his situation to look up in excitement. Except Kaidoh is looking at him too, and for maybe the first time since Momo's met him he's smiling in a way that's not smug or sarcastic or mean or anything other than genuinely pleased, and this, Momo realizes, _this_ was definitely a bad idea.

Kaidoh's bangs are damp, probably from washing his face when he was in the bathroom. They're falling in his eyes more than usual as a result, and Momo reaches up before he knows what he's doing, brushing the hair away so he can keep looking at his eyes. Kaidoh frowns, brow knitting together.

"What –" he starts.

"Shit," Momo says, and he slides his hand behind Kaidoh's neck and forces their lips together, hard.

Momo's anticipating one, maybe two full seconds of this before Kaidoh takes hold of his shoulders and shoves him away and punches him in the face. But two seconds fade into three and four, and then Kaidoh's hands find Momo's shoulders not to shove but to clutch, and at the same time his head tilts to the side and he opens his mouth, sucking Momo's bottom lip in between his, taking a moan along with it.

"Oh, God," Momo says, and Kaidoh hisses but now Momo thinks it isn't at all annoying, just really, really sexy.

"Move," Kaidoh orders against his mouth.

Even though his hard-on is far from being under control, Momo one-handedly moves the guitar out of his lap and onto the floor next to the futon, refusing to drop his other hand from Kaidoh's neck or break their lips apart for any space of time. He doesn't even have to say anything by way of encouragement before Kaidoh is straddling his lap in place of the guitar, pressing him against the back of the futon and trailing one hand down his chest to the waist of his pants. Momo bucks forward when Kaidoh's hand stops to rest just above the sizeable bulge there, but rather than pulling away Kaidoh cups his hand around the outline of his dick and starts to suck on the side of Momo's neck.

Momo gasps desperately and Kaidoh lifts his head so they're face to face again, meeting his gaze with almost alarming calm.

"Take your pants off," Kaidoh says, voice even more gravelly than when he sings.

"Shit," Momo says again.

"Kaoru!" Kaidoh's mother says, knocking on his bedroom door, and Momo jumps so violently that Kaidoh falls out of his lap and lands on the floor with a painful-sounding thump.

"Shit," Kaidoh curses.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," Momo says. He grabs the guitar and bear hugs it to his chest just as the door starts to open.

"What was that?" Kaidoh's mother says.

"Nothing!" Kaidoh stands up quickly and turns to face his mother, which Momo thinks is kind of stupid, seeing as his face is bright red and his lips are wet and swollen. "I was just teaching him guitar," he adds lamely.

"It's a little late for that, Kaoru," his mother says, but if she notices anything out of the ordinary she very thankfully doesn't show it. "I brought an extra blanket for Momoshiro."

"Thank you!" Momo flashes her an overenthusiastic grin and waves, and she smiles back and hands off the blanket to Kaidoh and leaves. Kaidoh stares at the blanket in his arms and then sinks to his knees, slowly, letting out a long, shaky breath.

"Um." Momo sets down the guitar. "So."

"We need to go to sleep," Kaidoh says in a rush. He throws the blanket at Momo's head, switches off the light, and is in his own bed before Momo can so much as blink.

"Good night," Momo mutters, dazed, and he pulls the blanket over his head and rolls over to try and sleep in his jeans. He doesn't want to know what would happen if he were to struggle out of them now.


	2. Super Great MomoKai Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momoshiro and Kaidoh are competing Japanese pop idols.

The next morning is awkward.

It's awkward when Kaidoh wakes Momo up by kicking the side of the futon and growling that they're going to be late. It's awkward when Momo stumbles into the bathroom with the intention of splashing some water on his face and Kaidoh is already in there, half-naked and in the process of pulling on a clean shirt. It's awkward when they go down for breakfast, although Momo makes certain to thank Kaidoh's mother profusely for it anyway. It's awkward on the bus ride to the studio, especially when they take a sharp corner or hit a bump and one of them falls against the other. It's _really_ awkward when they stop by Ryuuzaki's office before voice lessons and the first thing she says to them in greeting is, "Congratulations, you two are official!"

"What?" Kaidoh and Momo say at once. Momo's glad it's not just his voice that sounds unnaturally high.

"A partnership between Momoshiro and Kaidoh has been officially approved as of this morning," Nanjiroh says, appearing out of God-knows-where and squeezing a pale Kaidoh on the back of the neck. "Hope you two are ready to work hard."

"Oh," Momo squeaks out. 

"Hey, what's that on your neck?" Nanjiroh says.

"Spider bite," Momo mutters, and he pulls up his collar.

Ryuuzaki proceeds to fill them in on the details – still a planned winter tour, November first through December twenty-fifth, to be announced two weeks from now when Momo and Kaidoh first appear together on a popular idol TV show. This will mark their debut performance as well. They will be provided with a song to perform, which Momo personally thinks is lame, but seeing as he has no immediate desire to get together with Kaidoh and work on songwriting, he doesn't complain. The rest of Mamushi will be accompanying them on their tour, but for the debut performance it'll be just the two of them. The tour will be in Japan only, hitting several of the larger venues. It's already October, so due to time constraints, they won't be recording together until after the tour itself. They are to sign a year-long contract. 

"We have to sign right now?" Momo asks, doing his best to sound casual.

"Does something in the offer sound unsatisfactory to you, Momoshiro?" Ryuuzaki says. 

Momo glances out the corner of his eye at Kaidoh, who hasn't said a word in at least ten minutes. "No," he says reluctantly.

"Then I don't see why you would want to wait."

Momo figures that unresolved sexual tension probably isn't a sufficient reason in Ryuuzaki's book, so he just swallows, signs his name on the contract in front of him, and passes it to Kaidoh, who does the same.

"Fantastic," Nanjiroh leers.

"Hey, what are we going to call ourselves?" Momo says.

"The label's open to suggestions. Just figure it out before your debut, or the label will decide for you," Ryuuzaki says.

"Okay." Momo remains rooted to the floor, staring at the signed contract and wondering just how they're going to perform together when at the moment they can't even maintain eye contact.

"Well? What are you two waiting for? Get to your lessons. Mizuki has your new music, and you'll be starting a new dance regimen as of today."

Momo makes a strangled sound and Kaidoh, being the old man that he is, bows politely, thanks Ryuuzaki and Nanjiroh, and excuses himself to make a short phone call.

"Thanks," Momo says half-heartedly. When he makes it into the hallway himself, Kaidoh has disappeared. 

There's still fifteen minutes before their lesson with Mizuki, so Momo goes outside with the intention of calling his parents to break the news that he won't be home for Christmas. Before he can scroll through his address book, however, his phone starts to ring, and his throat tightens up at seeing Ryoma's name on the display.

"Hello?" Momo says, finding support against the brick wall.

"Congratulations, Momo-senpai," Ryoma's voice says, cool and unreadable and exactly the same as always.

"You heard?" Momo says.

"Ryuuzaki told me."

"Huh." Momo runs a hand through his hair and closes his eyes. "That was a really shitty thing you did, Ryoma."

There's a pause on the other end of the line. When they first signed on together, Momo thinks, Ryoma would have hung up on him for saying as much. He silently counts to ten.

"I know," Ryoma says. "I'm sorry."

Momo exhales and presses his back flat against the wall, sliding down to the pavement. "Okay," he says. "When do you start your tour? With Tezuka and Fuji, right?"

Ryoma pauses again. "I'm at the airport right now," he says at last.

He can't think of anything else to do, so Momo laughs. "Of course you are," he says. "Where to first?"

"America," Ryoma says. "Los Angeles."

"Swell." Momo picks at the hem of his shirt and tries to remember which state that's in.

"How's Kaidoh?"

Momo snorts. "A jerk."

"You're perfect for each other, then."

"Hey."

Ryoma laughs, and Momo can't help but grin himself. "Momo-senpai," Ryoma says, and the sudden seriousness in his tone makes Momo's grin fade. 

"What?"

"I'm serious."

"What do you mean?"

Ryoma pauses for a third time, and Momo's just about to snap and shout that Ryoma should hurry the hell up and say what he wants to say when he does. "You and Kaidoh. It makes more sense than you and me."

Momo considers asking him if he knows more than he's letting on. "Oh," he says numbly.

"Good luck." Ryoma stops to say something to someone in English, then speaks back into the phone. "I have to go."

"Okay. Have fun. Say hi to Tezuka and Fuji for me."

"Yeah. See you when I get back." 

"See you."

Ryoma hangs up first, and Momo leaves his phone open until the gentle lady's voice starts to ask if he's still there and he shuts it and stuffs it into his pocket. He's trying to make sense of the fact that he feels strangely unemotional – maybe even _good_ – about the conversation when Kaidoh's voice sounds from around the corner.

"Did you break up?"

Momo watches in disbelief as Kaidoh moves into sight.

"You asshole. You had no right to listen to that," he says.

"I was here first," Kaidoh replies.

"You're such a fucking dick." Momo can't remember the last time he felt this pissed off. Not when Kaidoh first bumped into him in the hotel, not when he saw Ryoma alone on TV. "I can't believe I just signed a fucking contract with you." He grabs the handle of the door and yanks it open viciously.

"Momoshiro," Kaidoh says, but Momo lets the door slam shut and walks fast to Mizuki's so he won't have to be alone with Kaidoh again. He'll do this for a year if he has to, but the minute their contract is up, Momo never wants to see Kaidoh Kaoru again.

~

Momo's parents are excited to hear the news about his new contract and tour plans, although unfortunately not so much that they forget about grounding him. Their terms are that if Momo misses one more lesson with his tutor before his TV debut, they'll lock him in his bedroom rather than let him go on tour, and the subsequent two weeks are among the most miserable in his life, between killing himself at the studio all day with Mizuki and Yukimura and _Kaidoh_ and dragging himself home at night to study until he passes out. The day before their scheduled debut, Momo doesn't make it home until eight-thirty – Yukimura kept insisting he was doing something in the routine wrong, even despite the fact that it was obviously Kaidoh who was messing everything up – and his parents are none too pleased that he's already kept his tutor waiting for forty-five minutes.

"Sorry, Inui-senpai, sorry," Momo says, wearily shutting the door to his bedroom behind him and dropping his bag to the floor.

Inui smiles. "That's all right, Momoshiro. How was practice?"

"Crappy," Momo groans. "Do we have to do math tonight?"

"I'm afraid so."

Momo groans again, and Inui just smiles more. Momo personally thinks his smile is creepy, even though he knows he's lucky to have Inui as a tutor because he's really smart and actually pretty cool sometimes, and he never yells at Momo when he doesn't finish his homework.

"You're prepared for your performance with Kaidoh tomorrow, then?" Inui asks, and Momo nods while pulling out his math book before he realizes nobody but the studio and his family is supposed to know about the performance.

"Hey," Momo says. "Did my mom tell you or something?"

"No, Kaidoh did," Inui says, still smiling in his creepy way.

Momo feels the hair stand up on the back of his neck. "How you do know Kaidoh?" 

"Surely you didn't believe you were the only student I tutor, Momoshiro."

Momo doesn't answer because he doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that until now he kind of did. "But you've never said anything about it!" he protests.

"I don't see how the subject of Kaidoh would be pertinent to mathematics," Inui says, sounding genuinely surprised.

"It –" Momo stops himself because he knows trying to argue the matter with Inui will amount to absolutely nothing. "How long have you been his tutor?" he settles on.

"Oh, several years. I started with him long before I started with you." At this, Inui seems to consider it a closed subject. "If you could please turn to page two hundred and sixty –"

"Did you know him when he was a Junior?" Kaidoh blurts, although he's not sure where the question comes from.

"Of course," Inui says, frowning a little.

"Why did he stop?"

Inui frowns more deeply and leans back in his chair, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "He didn't stop," he says. "They dropped him."

"What?" Momo thinks back to when he was still a Junior, how hard he worked and how terrified he always was of getting dropped before he could break through. "Why?"

"I believe the official reason was that his voice was too rough," Inui says. "However, I suspect in truth it had more to do with his appearance."

"What do you mean?"

"The label was concerned girls would find him too scary," Inui says, lifting an eyebrow. 

Momo feels like his stomach drops down to his ankles. "Oh," he says.

"I believe it was the company president who suggested he go into rock instead of pop," Inui adds. He taps his pencil against his chin thoughtfully, then shakes his head and turns back to Momo's desk. "Now, page two hundred and sixty, please. And let's take a look at your work from last time."

Momo hands over his homework without looking at Inui, losing himself in thought while Inui quietly scans the page.

"You forgot to finish number seventeen," Inui says, handing it back.

"Oh. Sorry." Momo grabs the paper and frowns, trying to remember what the hell he was supposed to be doing.

"He quite enjoys Ah-Un, you know," Inui says out of nowhere.

"What?" Momo forgets all about number seventeen and turns to face Inui completely. "No he doesn't. He hates pop music."

Inui laughs. "Maybe Mamushi hates pop music," he says, "but Kaidoh certainly does not."

Momo blinks, wondering why before now he never even paused to consider the difference.

"Number seventeen, Momoshiro," Inui says gently, and Momo feels his cheeks get red and grabs for his pencil.

~

"Stop moving," Shishido says, grabbing Momo's face and turning it back toward the mirror for the third time.

"Ow!" Momo says.

"Stop _moving_ ," Shishido repeats. 

"I'm not!" Momo grimaces as Shishido gives his hair a sharp tug and crosses his arms in front of his chest, resigned to look straight forward. He wishes he could have Kaidoh's hairdresser instead. Davide doesn't seem like nearly as much of a jerk as Shishido, even if he does keep cracking really stupid jokes. Isn't Momo supposed to be able to fire people like this? Shishido should be going out of his way to make sure he's comfortable, not _threatening_ him.

"If you don't stop fucking moving I'm going to spray this in your eyes," Shishido snarls, waving a bottle of hairspray menacingly.

"Okay," Momo says, shrinking a little in his chair.

"And sit upright."

Momo casually glances over at Kaidoh in the mirror, who has his eyes closed and hasn't said one word to his hairdresser the entire time. 

"Hey. Mamushi," Momo says.

Kaidoh doesn't open his eyes. "What."

"Are you nervous?"

Kaidoh hisses. "Don't be ridiculous," he says.

"Hand me that pomade, Davide?" Shishido says, holding out his hand.

"We're supposed to fix hair, not palms," Davide says, then keels over laughing at himself with his hands still tangled in Kaidoh's hair. 

"That is _so_ lame," Shishido says. Momo stares at Davide in mild horror. Kaidoh gives no indication he even heard save a small tightening of his frown.

"Okay. Jesus. _Go_ ," Shishido says a few minutes later, stepping back from Momo's chair and allowing him to stand up and inspect himself in the mirror. "I've worked on three-year-olds who held still better than you," he adds.

"Looks good! Thanks!" Momo says, instantly feeling better to be freed from Shishido's grasp. He puts his hands on his hips and watches Davide and Kaidoh impatiently.

"Aren't you done yet?" he asks Davide. "His hair always looks exactly the same anyway."

"Shut up," Kaidoh says.

Davide reaches down into a bag next to Kaidoh's chair and then straightens up with a flourish, tying a green bandana around Kaidoh's head and effectively covering up his last half hour's worth of work.

"Finished!" he announces. And, apparently unable to help it, he adds, "Thanks to _finesse_."

"You've got to be kidding me," Momo says. Shishido makes an impatient noise behind him that suggests he's thinking roughly the same thing.

"Fifteen minutes," a woman wearing a headset calls from the doorway. Momo looks at Kaidoh and he nods. The filming studio is a full thirty floors above them, so it's about time to head to the elevators.

"Thanks," Momo says again, nodding to Shishido and Davide, and he and Kaidoh make their way down the hall, passing various stagehands and a few other scattered artists.

"You're really not nervous at all?" Momo says as soon as they've stepped inside the elevator and closed the door. 

Kaidoh presses the button for the thirtieth floor and reclines against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes once again. "No. It's just an interview and one stupid song."

Momo watches the elevator rise slowly, passing floors five and six before it stops and a woman wheeling a cart full of sound equipment gets on.

"Yukimura's going to be watching," Momo points out.

"Our dancing is fine," Kaidoh says. The elevator stops on floor twelve and the woman gets out again. The doors close.

"We never thought up a name," Momo says.

"For now we're just supposed to keep calling it Mamushi," Kaidoh says.

"I know." Momo frowns as two men get on at floor fifteen just to get off again at seventeen. Lazy. 

"It's our first performance together," Momo finally grates out at floor twenty-five.

"Not like it matters," Kaidoh says, and Momo makes it to floor twenty-six before something inside him breaks and he lunges forward and hits the emergency stop button. The elevator jerks to a shuddering halt and a faint alarm bell begins to sound. A recording of a woman's voice tells them help will be along shortly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaidoh spits. He grabs Momo by the shirt front and shakes him roughly, but Momo's glad, because at least now he's actually paying attention.

"I –" Momo falters, because his thought process behind this one really _was_ a little bit lacking. "You haven't talked to me since we signed our contract," is the first thing that comes out.

" _What?_ " Kaidoh looks at him as if he just sprouted a third eye. "Are you fucking insane? I was talking to you just _now._ "

"You know what I mean!" Momo grabs Kaidoh's hands on his shirt to try and loosen his grip, because it's tightening to the point of being painful.

" _You_ were the one who walked away," Kaidoh says, and just because he can tell Momo's trying to break free he pulls him even closer.

"Well – you had no right to listen to my phone call with Ryoma!" Momo shouts.

"Well if you weren't still in love with your stupid ex-band mate, we might actually be able to get something done once in a while!" Kaidoh shouts back.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Momo kicks out at Kaidoh's shins but Kaidoh just narrows his eyes and shoves him into the elevator wall. The metal rail digs into Momo's waist so hard it makes his eyes water, but he doesn't flinch away.

"You – you –" Momo says, and he feels Kaidoh's breath on his face and he can smell his toothpaste _again_ , and that has something to do with the fact that he doesn't understand the words that come out of his own mouth anymore. "You were the one who stopped," Momo says, weakly, and then he falls silent and lets his head thunk back against the wall and prays that someone fixes the elevator soon and helps him escape or a bomb hits the building so they can both just die.

"Stopped –" Kaidoh begins, and then he falls silent too. His hands loosen on Momo's shirt and drop to his sides.

"You didn't have to stop." Momo can feel his cheeks burning but he figures it doesn't really matter, they're just going to go on the TV program and announce their irreconcilable differences and get dropped by their label for violating their contract and move to different countries to escape their humiliation and never see each other again anyway.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, but instead of hitting Momo for dramatic emphasis he steps forward and presses their bodies together and rests his face against the side of Momo's neck. "My mom heard us," he says into Momo's skin. "That's all."

". . . Oh," Momo says, intelligently, and he takes back that prayer for a bomb.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says again. He lifts his hands to rest on either side of Momo's face and Momo opens his mouth to maybe make a joke or something that will make this less weird. "Don't," Kaidoh advises, and he tilts Momo's head back and drags his tongue along his bottom lip.

"Shit," Momo groans.

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees, and that is somehow so hot that Momo can't think to do anything but flip them so _Kaidoh's_ the one pressed against the wall. Kaidoh makes a small noise as if the wind is being knocked out of him and then moans as Momo presses his thigh up between his legs, back arching and head tilting to expose his neck.

"Momoshiro," Kaidoh hisses, and Momo responds by tearing his bandana off his head so he can tangle one hand in his hair.

"I'm not in love with Ryoma," he says breathlessly.

"Good," Kaidoh says.

"Are you having sex with your groupies?" 

"No," Kaidoh answers, and then puts an end to all further conversation by dropping his hand between their bodies and sliding it under the waist of Momo's pants.

"Fuck," Momo gasps. Kaidoh's fingers struggle briefly with the waistband of his underpants – the pants he wears for concerts _are_ kind of small, in all honesty, so it's not like he really has any options other than briefs – and then suddenly they're _there_ , wrapping around Momo's already hard cock, and this is different, this is way way _way_ different from doing it to himself, so Momo can't be blamed if he bucks against Kaidoh's hand gracelessly and makes needy little sobbing noises into Kaidoh's chest.

"Kaidoh," Momo says, choking, and Kaidoh uses his unoccupied hand to cup Momo's ass, which kind of isn't helping that things are moving fast, really _way too fast_.

"Kaidoh," Momo says again, a little more desperate now, but Kaidoh is too busy sucking on the side of his face to pay any attention.

"Oh, God," Momo says, and he's coming already, right inside his tiny _white_ pants, right inside this studio elevator on the way to their debut performance with Kaidoh Kaoru pinned against the wall. 

Kaidoh freezes with his hand still trapped and Momo freezes too, because fuck that is easily the most embarrassing thing that could have ever happened, ever, he can't have even lasted a _minute_ and now Kaidoh is going to realize this was a huge mistake and hate him and never want to do it again. 

"That good, huh?" Kaidoh says, and Momo is about to take back taking back the whole bomb thing but then Kaidoh starts laughing, and it's the good kind of laugh, not the mean kind, so maybe even after all that it was still worth it.

"Shut up," Momo says, but now that Kaidoh's laughing he kind of has to laugh a little too. That doesn't change the fact that he wants Kaidoh to stop, however, and he can only think of one thing that would get him to stop laughing if their roles were reversed, so he takes another second to catch his breath, waits for Kaidoh to pull his hand out of his pants, and then drops to his knees.

"What are you –" Kaidoh says as Momo undoes his fly.

"What do you think?"

Kaidoh looks like he's about to answer just as the alarms turn off. They both go still, listening for a sign of anything in the suddenly eerie silence, and then the elevator jerks to life and Momo jumps up from his position on the floor, turning to Kaidoh in mild panic. Kaidoh is in the process of zipping himself up, but when he looks back at Momo he groans.

"Your pants," he says.

The doors open on floor twenty-seven, and while Momo knew it would be asking too much to hope they would be met by no one, he definitely wasn't expecting to be met by _everyone._ There are enough reporters and photographers and cameramen and random studio employees waiting for them that they stretch around the nearest visible corner into the next hall. Ryuuzaki and Nanjiroh are somewhere toward the front, and when the doors first open Ryuuzaki begins to rush forward, but upon taking in the sight of them she stops short.

"I think we're in trouble," Momo whispers.

"Moron," Kaidoh says, and he drags Momo behind him before too many cameras can get a clear shot of his pants.

~

Trouble, Momo figures later, is about the understatement of the century for precisely what they are in. Deep, fathomless shit doesn't even quite cover it.

"I don't want to know what you two were doing in there," Ryuuzaki says after dragging them both into her office the next morning. On top of her desk is a collection of various newspapers, magazines, and tabloids, all boasting variations of the same photograph of Momo and Kaidoh looking very disheveled indeed in the corner of the elevator. The top magazine, Momo notices with a grimace, has the accompanying headline, "BACKSTAGE BOY LOVE???" He's sure the others aren't much better.

"We –" Momo begins.

"I _don't_ want to know," Ryuuzaki repeats. She looks incredibly exhausted, Momo notices with a twinge of guilt – she's probably been up all night dealing with the backlash already. "All I want to know is how the two of you could have been so incredibly _stupid_ as to pull a stunt like _this_ ," – she waves a hand wildly at the mountain of media on her desk – "the same night as your debut performance."

Momo looks at Kaidoh. Kaidoh looks back.

"We're . . . sorry?" Momo says after a moment.

"Not as sorry as I am that I didn't retire five years ago," Ryuuzaki says, sighing.

"Hey, we still pulled off the interview and performance all right, didn't we?" Momo says.

"Only because you were lucky enough that Yukimura was there to swap you pants," Kaidoh says under his breath.

"That was _not_ luck." Momo shudders. "They were _spandex._ "

"I don't know if it will be enough, Momoshiro," Ryuuzaki says, and Momo and Kaidoh snap back to attention.

"What do you mean?" Momo clenches his fists anxiously. "The label doesn't want to drop us, does it?"

"I don't know," Ryuuzaki says. "But Hanamura wants to see the both of you in her office. Immediately."

Momo feels his extremities go numb, and he doesn't have to look at Kaidoh to know all the blood has drained out of his face.

"Hanamura?" he repeats weakly.

"You know which floor," Ryuuzaki says, and Momo thinks it can't be a good sign that she is actually regarding them with pity. "Come back and tell me what happened when you're through."

Momo and Kaidoh leave Ryuuzaki's office and walk to the elevators silently, and Momo knows at least for him it's because he doesn't trust himself to speak. And of course, just being in an elevator alone with Kaidoh again is making him extra-squirmy. He doesn't know whether to be more upset or relieved when the doors open and they get out.

"Um," Momo says before they knock on the door to Hanamura's office, which is, ominously, the last room at the end of the hall on the top floor of the building. "If we don't come out again, it was. You know. Fun."

"The performance or the handjob?" Kaidoh asks, so it's all his damn fault when Hanamura calls for them to come in and Momo's face is bright red.

"Have a seat, gentlemen," Hanamura says. She gestures to two chairs placed in front of her desk. Momo takes the far one and waits for Kaidoh to take the one next to him, then promptly digs his nails into the armrests and grits his teeth. Kaidoh is a little more composed than him, although Momo notices he keeps wiping his hands on his pants.

"I presume you know why you're here." Hanamura smiles a little grimly and rests her chin in her palm, looking from Kaidoh to Momo. They both hesitate, then nod.

"Good." She watches them a second more before turning her head to look behind her. Some freaky-looking kid steps out from _somewhere_ , and Momo can't stop staring at him because what the hell, he has _pointy ears_ , Hanamura actually managed to find herself an _elf._ "Reiji," she says to the kid, "would you please put in the video?"

Reiji gives a curt nod and disappears again, and then a flat-screen TV Momo didn't notice before lights up on the wall behind Hanamura. The studio they were filmed in last night blinks into life, and he can see himself and Kaidoh walking in to the faint din of girls' screams. Momo cringes at the sight of himself in Yukimura's pants. 

"It hasn't been aired yet, obviously," Hanamura says. 

Momo glances nervously at Kaidoh. "Obviously?"

"Your tour is being postponed," she says as if this were already understood. "We need to edit out the footage where you announce it." She pauses to look back at the screen. "Not to mention the blemish on Momoshiro's neck."

Momo is somewhat surprised when Kaidoh straightens up and speaks before he does, although he really shouldn't be seeing as he's incapable of anything other than gaping wordlessly at the moment.

"Why?" Kaidoh says. Reiji, who has emerged from the shadows once more, glares at him. Hanamura lifts an eyebrow. Momo just fights to close his own mouth.

"I know what we did was . . . unprofessional," Kaidoh continues, "but why does that mean we have to cancel our tour? We've been working on it nonstop, and at this point it would be more of an expense to the company to drop it. Why not just . . . let us try?"

Hanamura, to Momo's mild shock, looks amused, although Reiji looks like he's about ready to wring Kaidoh's neck.

"I said postponed, Kaidoh-kun. Not cancelled." 

Kaidoh gets a little red in the face and slouches back into his seat. ". . . Oh."

"Reiji," Hanamura says. "Fast-forward, please."

The footage on the screen blurs, all the way to the end of Momo and Kaidoh's interview segment, and only when they appear on a side stage after the pause for a commercial break does it stop and go back into focus. 

"Your performance, boys," Hanamura says, while Momo and Kaidoh watch themselves, transfixed. "It was very good."

Momo keeps his eyes on the screen, and hell, Hanamura's right, they look _great._ He knew they had their dance routine and singing down to an art, naturally, but watching it as if a member of the audience is different, and, Momo thinks, way better. When they get to the part where he and Kaidoh start to share a microphone – and God, Kaidoh complained about that _so much_ when Yukimura first made them do it – Momo practically wants to start squealing along with the audience. 

"Hey, we were awesome!" Momo says, grinning and facing Kaidoh. The look Kaidoh gives him in return reminds him that they're still not off the hook, so he clears his throat and tries to frown. It's kind of hard now, though. The corners of his mouth keep perking up. 

"Mm," Hanamura agrees, and Momo is startled because really, this whole encounter is not half bad. Their tour is postponed, sure, but it's not like they're being dropped, and she hasn't said anything about delaying their album release, or –

"Why don't we take a look at the other video, Reiji?"

"Other –" Momo says, puzzled, then cuts himself off when grainy security footage of Momo and Kaidoh in an elevator comes onscreen.

"Oh my God," Kaidoh says.

"Yes," Hanamura says. "I won't burden you with the numbers, but Masterpiece paid a hefty sum to the television studio to obtain this." 

She turns in her chair to completely face the TV, leaving Kaidoh and Momo relatively alone to their wide-eyed horror. It's cued to begin right when they start to kiss, and even though he knows exactly what's coming, it doesn't stop Momo from groaning out loud when Kaidoh's hand works its way into his pants and he basically starts humping Kaidoh's leg.

"Oh God no," Kaidoh says to his left, and when Momo looks over he sees that Kaidoh has his face buried in his hands and his flush has spread all the way down to his shoulders. Momo wants to hide behind his hands, too, not least of all because watching the tape is actually making him a little horny, but he's too traumatized to move. Especially now that video-Momo is shuddering and going still against video-Kaidoh and the elevator wall, and yeah, that was definitely at the very most –

"Forty-nine seconds," Hanamura says thoughtfully, glancing at her watch. "I daresay you can hold a note for longer than that, Momoshiro."

"Fuck," Momo says, and now he _knows_ he's at least as red as Kaidoh.

"We can stop there," Hanamura says, waving at Reiji. "After all, as we all know, you don't get very far after that. If I were you, Kaidoh, I'd be quite vexed."

Kaidoh doesn't look up, just shakes his head over and over, still hiding his face. Momo kind of wants to reach over and hold his hand, but he knows Kaidoh would hit him, and anyway, that's just way too gay or something, so he stays frozen in his seat and waits for Hanamura to dole out whatever torture she's got lined up next.

"I hope you understand the gravity of the situation," Hanamura says, folding her hands on top of her desk. "This should be the end of both your careers."

Momo bows his head in acknowledgement, and Kaidoh nods once, although he doesn't seem able to lower his hands. Hanamura watches them both closely, as if waiting for confession of some further wrongdoing. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she leans back in her chair and brightly smiles.

"Have either of you had a chance to look at the Masterpiece website this morning?"

Kaidoh finally lowers his hands at this, glancing sideways at Momo in bewilderment. 

"No," Momo says, equally clueless. "Why –"

"There was an official announcement of your partnership posted last night," Hanamura says. "It's received a fair number of comments from fans already."

Momo and Kaidoh continue to stare, uncomprehending. "What does that –" Momo begins.

"How many pages as of now, Reiji?"

"Twenty-nine," Reiji answers promptly.

"Twenty-nine?" Momo repeats. 

"Pages," Hanamura affirms. "Of fan comments. Largely female fans. They know about your little elevator encounter, boys. At least, as much as is possible for them to know."

Momo swallows. Kaidoh drops his head to smack against the edge of the desk.

"They find it . . . charming."

Kaidoh lifts his head. "Charming?"

"It's more interest than any news release on the website has ever received," Hanamura says, and suddenly, Momo thinks, her smile looks a little bit evil.

"Does that mean we're . . . not in trouble?" Momo says. Kaidoh elbows him in the side.

"I wouldn't say that," Hanamura says with a chuckle. "After all, there's still the matter of how much money it cost to bribe the studio. We don't want your fans knowing _too_ much, after all."

Momo briefly recalls his forty-nine second record and wriggles in his chair. "Right," he agrees.

"For now, boys, I would plan on working very, very hard to do precisely everything your managers and trainers tell you to do," Hanamura says. "And consider yourselves very, very in debt to this company."

"Right," Momo says again, and he looks over at Kaidoh, who has regained at least some of his composure and is nodding vigorously.

"That will do, then." Hanamura's smile turns sweet once more, and Reiji, without being instructed, turns off the TV and opens the door for Momo and Kaidoh.

"Th-thank you," Momo mutters, which Kaidoh repeats with a bow. They back out of the office and are hardly around the corner before Hanamura calls after them, causing Momo to curse softly.

"Boys," she says. "You have a photo shoot scheduled for next Friday. If you have any more urges to explore, save them for the cameras."

Momo looks at Kaidoh for approximately three seconds before he can't handle it any more and he breaks into a run. Kaidoh follows close behind him, and they don't stop until they're inside the elevator and the doors are sliding shut.

" _Fuck_ ," Momo groans, running his hands through his hair. "I – I don't know if I love her or hate her."

"She _watched the tape_ ," Kaidoh says. "More than once. She's a _freak._ "

Momo doesn't really want to think about that anymore, so he chooses to ignore it. "Oh God," he says. "I love fangirls."

"They're perverted," Kaidoh says, but Momo can tell he doesn't really mean it.

"So," Momo says, exhaling slowly. "We're kind of off the hook." 

"Kind of."

"You don't think –" Momo says, hesitantly, because it really is just too weird, " –You don't think she _planned_ for this to happen, do you?"

The expression on Kaidoh's face suggests he was wondering exactly the same thing. "I don't want to talk about it," he says, and Momo decides it will probably be best if he never brings it up again.

They get out of the elevator on Ryuuzaki's floor, then come to the unspoken agreement that they deserve a break before recounting any of the details and slip outside.

"How were your parents last night?" Momo says. He's thinking about his own, who have extended his grounding until somewhere around the age of twenty-five. He can't be too mad at them, though – it's his own fault for not coming up with a better lie than "We were just giving each other pre-performance massages."

"Not good," Kaidoh says. "Although my mom wants you to know you're still invited to dinner."

"Oh yeah?" Momo can't keep a stupid smile off his face at that, so he pulls out his phone and pretends to check it for messages.

"Do you think Akutsu's going to beat us up when he finds out?" Momo asks, having now stared at his empty inbox for more than thirty seconds.

Kaidoh hisses. "He has a boyfriend," he says. "Who looks like a twelve-year-old girl."

Suddenly, Momo thinks, Kaidoh's over-protectiveness with Hazue makes perfect sense. "Ew."

Kaidoh snorts but doesn't say anything else. Momo is starting to feel awkward now, because thinking about boyfriends is getting him thinking about whether _they're_ boyfriends or not, and he kind of wants to be but there's really no easy way to just _ask._

"Kaidoh?"

Kaidoh looks over at him and Momo balks, because now he has no idea what he was going to say. "Uh," he stammers. "I don't think you're too scary-looking to be a pop idol."

"What?" Kaidoh's eyes are so wide Momo can tell he said something wrong, so he quickly scrambles away from the wall and pretends to be occupied with his phone again.

"Nothing," he says. "We should probably go in and tell Ryuuzaki."

"Momoshiro."

Momo's hand is on the door but this time he stops, and when he looks over his shoulder and sees Kaidoh smiling relief pools in his stomach. "Yeah?"

"Thanks," Kaidoh says, and he grabs Momo's shirt and throws him into the door, kissing him hard.

"Hey," Momo says the second they break apart to catch their breath. "Save it for the cameras."

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, but then he kisses Momo again and Momo knows he doesn't mean it.

~

(Omake) 

It's Christmas day and Momo is still grounded, which forces him to grudgingly admit his parents are probably serious this time. 

"You two are heartless," Momo sighs when they take away the new video game from his aunt as soon as he opens it. 

"Go help your sisters put together their playhouse," is his father's reply. 

Momo sighs again but doesn't argue, and he's actually sort of starting to have fun putting all the stickers where his sisters tell him to when the doorbell rings. 

"I'll get it," he yells. He opens the door and is immediately glad he did, because there is a glowering Kaidoh standing on his front step and he still sort of scares Momo's sisters.

"Kaidoh!"

Kaidoh shifts a little uncomfortably and then holds up a gift bag sporting an enormous silver bow. His cheeks are bright red, but that could just be from the cold. 

"My mom wanted me to bring this to your family," Kaidoh says. Momo grins. Definitely not the cold. 

"How cute," Momo says, taking the bag and peeking inside the top. "Did you wrap it yourself?" 

"Shut up." Kaidoh stuffs his hands in his coat pockets and frowns at his feet. "Are you going to invite me in or not?" 

“You don’t have to go right away?” 

Kaidoh shakes his head. “I just need to be back in time for dinner.”

"Mom!" Momo yells, ignoring Kaidoh when he cringes and covers his ears. "Kaidoh's going to come in for a while, okay?"

"Of course, sweetie!" 

Momo takes a moment to appreciate Kaidoh's inexplicable ability to charm grown-ups; after finally meeting Kaidoh in person, his parents concluded no one so polite could ever be involved in such an inappropriate scandal and became slightly more inclined to believe Momo that it was all a big misunderstanding. They're still not quite convinced about the whole massage thing, but at any rate, they let him hang out with Kaidoh even despite being grounded, and that's all that matters.

Being careful not to let his parents actually catch sight of Kaidoh – if they do he knows they'll just insist on _talking_ for half an hour, and Kaidoh never does anything to discourage them – he slips the gift on the table in the hall and then hurries upstairs, checking to make sure Kaidoh is close behind him.

"This would've been the last day of our tour," Kaidoh says when Momo has shut and locked his bedroom door, and Momo frowns because seriously, what is Kaidoh doing starting a conversation when they could be making out?

"I guess," Momo says with a shrug.

Kaidoh looks a little pissed off, which doesn't make sense to Momo. It's not like Kaidoh is sentimental or something. 

"We're just going to tour this summer," Momo reminds him. 

"I know that, idiot."

They only got the dates a few days ago. Their new single is still on top of the charts after two weeks. Yesterday, Momo got stopped by a girl on the street who asked him if he was wearing Kaidoh-kun's underwear. It's been pretty weird, but Momo can't say he doesn't like it. Ryuuzaki even told him the label is considering letting them work on a collaboration with Ryoma when he gets back from America.

"Hey," Momo says, ready to change the subject. "I thought of a band name for us."

Kaidoh looks suspicious. "What is it?"

"Super Great MomoKai Special!" Momo grins and rests his hands on his hips proudly. "What do you think?"

"I think you're retarded," Kaidoh says, clearly appalled.

Momo pretends to pout. "You're no fun at all." 

Kaidoh keeps watching him in that horror-stricken sort of way, and Momo finally figures enough is enough and he walks forward until he and Kaidoh are chest-to-chest and kisses him. 

Kaidoh forgets about being pissed off pretty quick – he always does – and he sighs into Momo's mouth and slides a hand into Momo's hair. Momo's a little embarrassed about how fast that gets him hard, but after two months of little more than a few rushed sessions of kissing and grinding in various hallways and closets at the studio, he figures no one could blame him. The minute they finished their first photo shoot together Momo had to practically sprint to the nearest bathroom to get himself off. He doesn't feel even remotely guilty about it.

"Bed," Kaidoh growls, and Momo feels a familiar twinge of excitement as Kaidoh pulls him backward and they both fall onto his bed, Momo straddling Kaidoh's lap. Kaidoh starts doing that thing where he pulls down Momo's shirt and sucks at his collarbone, so Momo knows he's serious – the only other times he's done that ended in Momo getting short, messy handjobs between voice and dance lessons or after band practice. Even though the handjobs have been few and far between, Momo's gotten in the habit of bringing an extra pair of pants to the studio just in case.

"Hey Kaidoh," Momo says, just because he knows Kaidoh hates it when he tries to talk while they're fooling around. Kaidoh doesn't stop sucking, but Momo can feel his annoyance in the way his hands tighten on Momo's ass. He loves making Kaidoh annoyed.

"What?" Kaidoh groans into his skin.

"Remember that time in the elevator?"

Kaidoh hisses and Momo shudders a little at the feel of hot breath on his neck. "Of course," he says. "Dumbass."

"Good," Momo says. He slides off Kaidoh's lap and Kaidoh looks pissed, _really pissed_ , until Momo pushes his legs apart and kneels between them. "I still owe you one."

Kaidoh looks stunned for a second, then blushes. "Oh," he says. "Yeah."

Momo knows that's about all the encouragement he's going to get, so he wastes no more time in unbuttoning Kaidoh's pants and tugging them down past his knees, along with his boxers. It's kind of weird, he thinks – he's felt Kaidoh's dick plenty of times by now, but this is the first time he's ever really _looked_ at it – but the second he takes hold of the base and breathes against it Kaidoh begins to moan, loud, and just making Kaidoh lose it like that is more than enough incentive for Momo to get over the weirdness and drag his tongue along the head.

" _Fuck_ ," Kaidoh says, and Momo likes that even better, so he forgets about licking and takes his entire cock in his mouth.

Kaidoh whimpers – he actually _whimpers_ – and Momo figures he must be pretty good at this for having absolutely no idea what he's doing. He starts to suck harder and Kaidoh thrusts into his mouth, which is both weird and a little bit uncomfortable, so Momo grabs Kaidoh's hips and holds them in place.

"Momoshiro," Kaidoh gasps, tangling both hands in Momo's hair. Momo has to fight not to smirk, seeing as it would probably result in baring his teeth, which couldn't feel too great. He focuses on the pressure from his lips and using his tongue instead, eliciting another hiss and a jerk from Kaidoh.

" _Momoshiro_ ," Kaidoh says, firmer this time. Momo almost pulls away to snap " _What_ ," but just then he feels Kaidoh tense and hears his breath hitch, and suddenly he's coming and there's no place for it to go but Momo's _mouth_.

 _Gross_ , Momo thinks, and _now_ he realizes why the tone in which Kaidoh said his name struck Momo as familiar. He turns away and grabs for the box of tissues he knows is on the floor next to his bed, spitting the minute he gets one up to his mouth.

" _Gross_ ," he says, glaring at Kaidoh.

"I tried to warn you," Kaidoh says. His face is even redder now than before, and he keeps his eyes tightly closed even after his breathing has returned to a normal rate. 

"That good, huh?" Momo grins.

"Shut up." Kaidoh reaches down to grab Momo by the shirt and pulls him back onto the bed. "It was still longer than forty-nine seconds."

"Was _not._ " Momo waits just long enough for Kaidoh to tuck himself into his pants before shoving him all the way down on the bed.

"Was too." Kaidoh opens his eyes and props his head up on his arms, and he actually has the gall to _smirk._

"Next time we'll just have to time you." Momo frowns and wonders if Kaidoh remembers that Momo still has to get off, and if so, what the hell he's waiting for. He tries to nudge him a little with his hips so he gets the idea.

"Pervert," Kaidoh says, but he sticks a hand down Momo's pants anyway. 

Naturally, Momo's mom picks exactly this moment to knock on the door.

"Boys!" she calls. "Lunch!"

"Be right there!" Momo scrambles off the bed and listens for any sign of further movement from outside the door. He thinks his mom is gone already, so if they hurry they probably just have time for a handjob, but of course, now Kaidoh is standing up and stretching and walking toward the door.

"Hurry up," Kaidoh says. "I'm hungry."

"You're an _ass_ ," Momo says.

Kaidoh laughs and pulls the door open and Momo silently vows to never suck him off ever again.

"I'll get you back some other time," Kaidoh says. Momo decides maybe he'll take the vow back depending on how soon Kaidoh delivers.

"Kaidoh, it was so sweet of your family to send us a gift," Momo's mother says once they're all seated around the table. "I feel so awful, I don't have anything prepared."

"That's okay," Kaidoh says, smiling his polite smile. "Momoshiro already gave me a present."

Momo's jaw drops in horror and Kaidoh flashes him another smirk.

"Oh?" his mother says. "What did you get him, Takeshi?"

"Excuse me," Kaidoh says. "I forgot to wash my hands."

Momo stares after Kaidoh's retreating form and sinks as low as humanly possible into his chair.

Kaidoh is going to owe him for the rest of his life.

_end_


End file.
